Square Enix
| foundation = September 22, 1975 (Enix) September 1986 (Square Co.) April 1, 2003 (as Square Enix) October 1, 2008 (as Square Enix Holdings) | location = Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan | key_people = Yasuhiro Fukushima, Honorary Chairman Yoichi Wada, President and CEO (Square Enix & Taito) Keiji Honda, Executive Vice President Phil Rogers, President and CEO (Square Enix Europe) Mike Fischer, President and CEO (Square Enix, Inc.) | industry = Video games Books & magazines (Japan only) | products = Final Fantasy Dragon Quest Kingdom Hearts Tomb Raider Hitman Deus Ex Thief | revenue = ¥127,896 million (April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2012)http://www.square-enix.com/eng/news/pdf/12q4earnings.pdf | net_income = (¥6,060 million) (April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2012) | num_employees = 3,242 (as of March 31, 2012) | subsid = Square Enix Group Taito Group Square Enix Europe Eidos Group | homepage = www.square-enix.com }} is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, and distribution company best known for its role-playing video game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the Kingdom Hearts action RPG series. Its headquarters are located in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo."Corporate Profile." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Headquarters Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-8544, Japan.""Map." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Location Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-8544, Japan." The original Square Enix was formed as the result of a merger between Square and Enix. The merger occurred on April 1, 2003 with Enix as the surviving company. Each share of Square's common stock was exchanged for 0.85 shares of Enix's common stock. At the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square Co. employees. As part of the merger, former Square president Yoichi Wada was appointed president of the new corporation, while former Enix president Keiji Honda became its vice president. The founder of Enix, Yasuhiro Fukushima, currently serves as the honorary chairman and largest shareholder of the corporation. The company also owns Taito Corporation, best known for arcade games such as Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble, and former game publisher Eidos Interactive, which has been absorbed into Square Enix Europe. Square Enix now publishes all of Eidos' IPs and runs Eidos' development studios. Eidos was most well known for publishing the Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and Championship Manager series of games. Corporate history *April 1, 2003 - Square Enix formed in a merger between Square Co., Ltd. and the Enix Corporation. *July 2003 - Square Enix relocated its headquarters to Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo. *March 2004 - Square Enix acquired UIEvolution, Inc. in order to strengthen its wireless market. *January 2005 - Square Enix founded Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd (China), expanding their interests in the People's Republic of China (The company also has a controlling interest in Community Network Software Engine of Beijing, China which focuses on network middle-ware for gaming) *August 22, 2005 - Square Enix announced its acquisition of the gaming developer and publisher, Taito Corporation, renowned for their arcade hits, such as Space Invaders and the Bubble Bobble series. *September 28, 2005 - The acquisition of Taito is completed. *week of September 5, 2006 - Square Enix sued for breaking a contract with Soft-World International. *December 2007 - UIEvolution splits from Square Enix to become an independent company *August 29, 2008 - Square Enix made plans for a friendly takeover of Tecmo by purchasing shares at a 30 percent premium with a total bid of 22.3 billion yen. *September 4, 2008 - Square Enix withdrew their offer after Tecmo rejected the proposed takeover. Pure Dreams series formed. * October 1, 2008: Square Enix transforms into a holding company and is renamed into Square Enix Holdings. At the same time the gaming, contents and publishing businesses are transferred to a spin-off named Square Enix, sharing the same corporate leadership and offices with the holding. *February 12, 2009 - Square Enix Holdings announced a takeover deal worth £84.3 million (32p per share) for Eidos plc, the holding company for Eidos Interactive, the UK-based publisher of the Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief and Legacy of Kain franchises. *April 22, 2009 - The acquisition of Eidos is completed. Business model The business model of Square Enix is centered on the idea of "polymorphic content", which consists in developing franchises on all potential hardware or media rather than being restricted by a single gaming platform.Square Peg, European Hole Interview // None /// Eurogamer An early example of this strategy is Enix's Fullmetal Alchemist manga series, which has been adapted into two anime TV series, two movies, and several novels and video games. Other polymorphic projects include Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Code Age, World of Mana, Ivalice Alliance and Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy. According to Yoichi Wada, "it's very difficult to hit the jackpot, as it were. Once we've hit it, we have to get all the juice possible out of it".Square Dance // GamesIndustry.biz The standard game design model of Square Enix is to establish the plot, characters and art of the game first. Battle systems, field maps and cutscenes are created next. A typical game of the company involves a team of at most 200 people. Square Enix doesn't usually use other companies' engines, preferring to code from scratch.Gamasutra - GDC 2008 Event Coverage According to Taku Murata, Square Enix has settled into this game making model since Square's Final Fantasy VII in 1997 and did not try other approaches since, as Enix did not have any internal development studio. Similar to Sony's Greatest Hits program, Square Enix sometimes re-releases games under the Ultimate Hits label, a designation given to games that have achieved a certain level of sales, at a reduced retail price. In 2004, Square Enix began to work on a "common 3D format" which would allow the entire company to develop titles without being restricted to a specific platform: this led to the creation of a game engine, named Crystal Tools, which is compatible with the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs and to some extent the Wii.GDC08: Square Enix unveils Crystal Tools engine - Joystiq Nevertheless, Square Enix has also begun considering other companies' engines and programming languages, licencing Epic Games' Unreal engine in 2007 for use in The Last Remnant, and using the Squirrel language for the WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. Production teams In 2003, Square Enix's development staff consisted of eight Square and two Enix . Product Development Division 5 had a management office in Tokyo but the actual development team was based in Osaka. All the other Product Development Divisions had their development teams based in Tokyo. As of May, 2005, Product Development Division 10 was headed by Yoshinori Yamagishi. In June, 2005, Yusuke Hirata, the former head of Product Development Division 5, left to join Aquaplus. In August, 2005, Yasumi Matsuno, the former head of Product Development Division 4, left due to prolonged sickness. In April, 2007, Koichi Ishii, the former head of Product Development Division 8, left to start game development company Grezzo. In December, 2010, Hiromichi Tanaka, the former head of Product Development Division 3, stepped down from his position due to the negative reception of the original version of Final Fantasy XIV. In March, 2011, Toshiro Tsuchida, the former head of Product Development Division 6, left to join GREE. 1st Production Department At present, the teams in charge of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, Dissidia series, Kingdom Hearts series and The World Ends With You are collectively referred to as the . The current structure of the 1st Production Department is the result of a fall 2010 merger between Product Development Division 1 in Tokyo and Product Development Division 5 in Osaka. The 1st Production Department is managed by Shinji Hashimoto. Properties Video games Square Enix's main concentration is on video gaming. Of its properties, the Final Fantasy franchise is the best-selling, with a total worldwide sales of over 100 million units as of June 2011. Square Enix's Dragon Quest franchise is considered one of the most popular game series in Japan and new installments regularly outsell other games at the times of their release. Of the 57 million units of games in the series sold so far, about 52.4 million have been from Japan, about 2.9 million have been from North America, and about 1.7 million have been from Europe. More recently, Square Enix's ''Kingdom Hearts'' series (developed in collaboration with Disney's Buena Vista Games) has become popular. In early 2003, Square Enix's U.S. subsidiary registered the Dragon Quest trademark, retiring the Dragon Warrior moniker, which was necessitated in 1989 due a trademark conflict with the now defunct TSR, Inc.. In May 2004, Square Enix announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment for the Japanese publishing rights to EverQuest II. Square Enix has produced or is producing titles for most major consoles beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, though never on a Sega platform. Square Enix has historically developed exclusively for certain consoles. The company developed its flagship games almost exclusively for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 in their respective eras. However, Square Enix is not developing all of its major titles for one console exclusively in the seventh generation, as they have done in the past, but instead released the next major installment in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe, and has recently announced that Dragon Quest X will be released on the Wii. Square Enix has also developed titles for handheld game consoles, including the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. In addition, they have published games for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and for various models of mobile phones. Square Enix mobile phone games are available on the Vodafone network in some European countries, including Ireland, Great Britain, Spain, and France. Twenty-seven Square Enix games were included in Famitsu magazine's 'Top 100 Games Ever', seven being in the top ten list, with Final Fantasy X claiming the number one position. Before its launch, Michihiro Sasaki, senior vice president of Square Enix, spoke about the PlayStation 3, saying "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them, but we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much." Square Enix continued to reiterate their devotion to multi-platform publishing in 2007, promising more support for the North American and European gaming markets where console pluralism is generally more prevalent than in Japan. Their interest in multi-platform development was made clear in 2008 when the previously PlayStation 3-exclusive game Final Fantasy XIII was announced for release on the Xbox 360. In 2008, Square Enix and Gas Powered Games announced partnership on the game Supreme Commander 2. On July 8, 2008, Square Enix released their first game for the iPod, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. Square Enix made a new brand for kids gaming that same year, known as Pure Dreams. Its purpose is to create games suitable for kids. The brand is now planning more games. Pure Dreams have just completed their first two games, Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His Friends (released in Japan on October 9, 2008) and Pingu's Wonderful Carnival (released in Japan on November 6, 2008). Fortress was the codename of a video game that was to be a spin-off of Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. It was envisioned as an action game set in the fictional world of Ivalice, and was intended for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. Although not yet officially announced, the project's existence was revealed after the closure of the original developer, GRIN, by former members of the development team and sources in the video game industry. The game had been cancelled, along with Highlander: The Game, Downfall: San Francisco, Gun Loco, Catacombs, and Project Dropship. In 2009, Square Enix acquired Eidos, the company responsible for popular game series such as Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief and Legacy of Kain, as well as the publishing of the Windows versions of Final Fantasy VII and VIII and Western release of Dragon Warrior Monsters. Square Enix has absorbed Eidos into a new division called Square Enix Europe. Square Enix is also creating a new video game engine called the Luminous Engine. The tech demo, titled Agni's Philosophy, was released on June 6, 2012 during E3 2012. Since then, in November 2012, Square Enix's worldwide technology director, Julien Merceron, teased a new direction for the engine, intended for multiple platforms and to be shown to the public in June 2013. Square Enix also helped deliver Ubisoft games to Japan since 2009. Online gaming Before the merger, Enix published its first online game Cross Gate in Japan, mainland China, and Taiwan in 2001 and Square released Final Fantasy XI in Japan on May 16, 2002 for the PlayStation 2. With the huge success after Square Enix released Final Fantasy XI worldwide in March 2004, Microsoft had the game ported into the Xbox 360 two years later, making it the first Final Fantasy game ever to be on the Xbox console. Due to the success of their MMORPG, Square Enix began a new project called Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion. GamePot, a Japanese game portal, got the license to publish Fantasy Earth in Japan and it was released in Japan as "Fantasy Earth ZERO." In November 2006, however, Square Enix dropped the Fantasy Earth Zero project, giving acquisition to GamePot. Square Enix released Concerto Gate, the sequel to Cross Gate, in 2007. A next-gen MMORPG code named Rapture was developed by the Final Fantasy XI team using the company's Crystal Tools engine. It was unveiled at E3 2009 that the MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, for PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows, would be released on September 30, 2010. A code to have a chance to be included in the Final Fantasy XIV beta was included with the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII. Also included is a code for an in-game item upon the release of Final Fantasy XIV. Dragon Quest X was announced in September 2011 as an MMORPG being developed for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U consoles. The Wii version was released on August 2, 2012. Square Enix is also making Facebook games, like Chocobo's Crystal Tower and Knights of the Crystals, and online games for Yahoo! Japan, such as Monster x Dragon, Sengoku Ixa and Crystal Conquest.Crystal Conquest Is A Massively Multiplayer Strategy Game… With Summon Monsters On May 8, 2012, Square Enix announced a collaboration with Bigpoint Games to create a free-to-play cloud gaming platform that "throws players into 'limitless game worlds' directly through their web browser". The service was launched under the name CoreOnline in August 2012. Other media The company has made two forays into the film industry. The first, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), was produced by Square subsidiary Square Pictures prior to the merger (Square Pictures is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix).http://www.square-enix.com/jp/ir/e/data/ar/download/20070831en.pdf p. 31 and 55 Its box-office failure caused Enix to delay the merger, which was already considered before the creation of the film, for fear of associating itself with a company that loses money. In 2005, Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, a CGI-animation movie based on the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII, set two years after the events of the game. A Deus Ex film is also in pre-production. The company also has a manga publishing division in Japan (originally from Enix) called Gangan Comics, which publishes content for the Japanese market only. However, in 2010, Square Enix launched a digital manga store for North American audiences via its Members services, which contains several notable series published in Gangan anthologies.Square Enix Launches Online Manga Store | Square Enix Titles published by Gangan Comics include Black God, Durarara, Papuwa, Haré+Guu, Pani Poni, Spiral, He is My Master, Yumekui Kenbun, Doubt, Bamboo Blade, Heroman, Pandora Hearts, Black Butler, Soul Eater, Zombie Loan, Tasogare Otome x Amnesia, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Other titles include manga adaptations of diverse Square Enix games, like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Star Ocean. Some of these titles have also been adapted into anime series. Fullmetal Alchemist so far is the most successful offspring of Square Enix's manga branch, with more than 30 million volumes sold in Japan alone. The anime series obtained great popularity and even spawned a movie sequel. Both series and movie are licensed to many locations worldwide (in North America by FUNimation Entertainment). The same occurs with its manga series, licensed in North America by Viz Media. Kingdom Hearts and Spiral were licensed in North America by Tokyopop; Tokyopop dropped Spiral, but the title was later licensed again by Hachette's Yen Press, which has licensed other Square Enix titles including Soul Eater, Bamboo Blade and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Other titles like Soul Eater, Sekirei, Bamboo Blade and Shikabane Hime also were adapted to TV and licensed to other countries, including a second Fullmetal Alchemist anime series which debuted on Japanese television in 2009 and America on Adult Swim in 2010. Square Enix created figures for franchises such as Mass Effect and Halo. The company also has a smartphone subsidiary, HipposLab. Subsidiaries *Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Japan, Headquarters) Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Shibuya, Tokyo. *Square Enix Montreal (Montreal, Canada) Announced November 21, 2011. Planned for opening in 2012."http://www.square-enix.com/eng/news/2011/html/f59a62fddbf4cff95811a41d5cde6676.html *Square Enix, Inc. (North America) the third floor of 999 North Sepulveda Boulevard in El Segundo, California, United States. *Square Enix Ltd. (Europe/PAL areas) the second floor of the Castle House in Borough of Islington in London, United Kingdom. **Square Enix Europe Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, Wimbledon, London. ***Beautiful Game Studios Based in the same building as Square Enix Europe, at Wimbledon Bridge House, 1 Hartfield Road, Wimbledon, London. ***Crystal Dynamics ***Eidos Montreal ***Eidos Shanghai ***IO Interactive *Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd. Room 610 of Golder Plaza, No. 10 in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China."Corporate Locations." ''Square Enix Japan. Retrieved September 20, 2008.'' *Digital Entertainment Academy Co. Ltd. *Square Enix Mobile *Taito (Headquartered in Japan), founded in 1953, acquired on September 28, 2005. *Visual Works, a CGI studio previously known as Square Visual Works. Reviews and rating *The company won IGN's award for Best Developer of 2006 for the PlayStation 2. *Square Enix's North American subsidiary, Square Enix, Inc., joined The Better Business Bureau in July 2007 and was assigned a rating of "C++". The BBB rating has since been upgraded to "A+". References * Yahoo! Finance company profile * TGS 2005: Square Enix Video Wall Presentation * Japan Game Software Firms Square, Enix to Merge * The Bell Tree * Top 10 Wildest Statements by Industry Veterans External links * Square Enix Global Site * History of Enix and Square (Official Site) * PlayOnline Square Enix's Portal for their Online titles including Final Fantasy XI & Front Mission Online * Financial details of Square Enix's acquisition of Taito * The official Square Enix YouTube channel * Square Enix profile on MobyGames Category:Companies established in 2003 Category:Companies based in Tokyo Category:Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Category:Video game development companies Category:Video game publishers Category:Video game companies of Japan Category:Square Enix Category:Entertainment Software Association